Updated 2020!
Happy New Year everyone! I wanted to send you my best wishes for the new year with this free New Year Writing activity for primary students.
If it’s the New Year, why are we still in the same class?
For those of us who teach from August/September to May / June, it can be tricky to explain to young children that in calendar time, the new year begins every January 1st, when Back to School feels so much more like a new year for all of us!
The great divide – the year that has ended, then…
Thankfully, we do have the dividing line that is our Winter holiday break, a.k.a. Christmas holidays. When we return to school, we can talk about that time as being in 202_ (last year). It’s really beneficial to have discussions that highlight and consolidate vocabulary related to time in this context (then, before, now etc.)
I like to ask my students what they remember as a happy time from last year…a time from the Winter or Spring when they were (age or in (grade_/kindergarten), Fall or before Christmas holidays. I then ask them to be sure and catch that memory forever in the bubble on the top of the page!
…this new year…NOW until next winter!
Usually we return to class somewhere around one week after the new year begins. The concept of a year, a month, even a week can be difficult for young students to grasp vs. time measured in minutes, blocks or days. It’s helpful to compare it to their birthday.
The idea of a resolution – ‘What I want to do’
We know that the new year only happens one time a year and is very special like a birthday. Many people decide to try something new or work on a challenge because of the new year. What is something you want to do?
Looking for more New Year activities? These pages are included in Read and Write and More for Winter!
Related:
I hope you enjoy this fun New Year writing activity!
Best wishes for the year ahead!
Would you have this updated for 2020? I have enjoyed using it in the past. If not, I will change the numbers to accommodate the 2020 numbers.
Hi Tiffany,
My apologies for only seeing your comment now. I hope you downloaded the update and used it for 2020! Thank you for alerting me to the need to update this post.